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One of the saddest death penalty cases I have heard is that of Cameron Todd Willingham. Texas executed him in 2004 for arson that killed three of his daughters.

One of the saddest death penalty cases I have heard is that of Cameron Todd Willingham. Texas executed him in 2004 for arson that killed three of his daughters. The "science" behind the arson conviction turned out to be not a science at all. I believe he was 100% innocent. More here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/08/03/fresh-doubts-over-a-texas-execution/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/08/03/fresh-d...

RIMR 11y ago
First he lost his wife and kids in a tragic fire. Then he was arrested and charged with their murder. Then, using investigative techniques that have been scientifically proven to be inaccurate, he was convicted and sentenced to death. Then he was executed. If the state can inflict this kind of nightmare on one person, it could do it to any one of us.
- fnordfnordfnord 11y ago
  Remember, the Governor of Texas was at the time attempting to win the Republican party's nomination for President.
  - smacktoward 11y ago
    In his own presidential campaign in 1992, then-Governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton participated in a similarly odious bit of political theater around an execution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Ray_Rector https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Ray_Rector I'm a Democrat, but on this issue there's more than enough crass opportunism on both sides of the aisle to go around.
    - fnordfnordfnord 11y ago
      In Clinton's case it was deathly fear of giving the red team any excuse to call him "soft on crime", but it amounts to the same thing.
- interlocutor 11y ago
  Correction: He didn't lose his wife in the fire. His wife stood by him (initially) and didn't believe he deliberately started the fire. But shortly before the execution she reversed herself. See: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/01/cameron-todd-willingham-stacy-kuykendall-texas-pardon_n_2058042.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/01/cameron-todd-willin...
  - MichaelGG 11y ago
    Which is probably the only sane way to cope with such an event.
interlocutor 11y ago
Here's the PBS story on this, including the "science" that lead to the conviction: http://video.pbs.org/video/1618590505/ http://video.pbs.org/video/1618590505/ Very sad.

RIMR 11y ago

First he lost his wife and kids in a tragic fire. Then he was arrested and charged with their murder. Then, using investigative techniques that have been scientifically proven to be inaccurate, he was convicted and sentenced to death. Then he was executed. If the state can inflict this kind of nightmare on one person, it could do it to any one of us.

fnordfnordfnord 11y ago
Remember, the Governor of Texas was at the time attempting to win the Republican party's nomination for President.
- smacktoward 11y ago
  In his own presidential campaign in 1992, then-Governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton participated in a similarly odious bit of political theater around an execution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Ray_Rector https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Ray_Rector I'm a Democrat, but on this issue there's more than enough crass opportunism on both sides of the aisle to go around.
  - fnordfnordfnord 11y ago
    In Clinton's case it was deathly fear of giving the red team any excuse to call him "soft on crime", but it amounts to the same thing.
interlocutor 11y ago
Correction: He didn't lose his wife in the fire. His wife stood by him (initially) and didn't believe he deliberately started the fire. But shortly before the execution she reversed herself. See: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/01/cameron-todd-willingham-stacy-kuykendall-texas-pardon_n_2058042.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/01/cameron-todd-willin...
- MichaelGG 11y ago
  Which is probably the only sane way to cope with such an event.

interlocutor 11y ago

Here's the PBS story on this, including the "science" that lead to the conviction: http://video.pbs.org/video/1618590505/ http://video.pbs.org/video/1618590505/ Very sad.